BBC radio chief Jenny Abramsky today rejected calls to privatise Radio 1 and Radio 2, saying it would be a "cultural travesty".

"You do not need to destroy Radios 1 and 2 to ensure that our great cultural institutions are given access to broadcasting," said Abramsky, the director of BBC audio and music. "To do so would be a cultural travesty and confining public service broadcasting into cultural elitism."

It was the BBC's role to "entertain as well as inform and educate", she added, claiming that the two music networks "underpin the nation's cultural life in the broadest sense".

Abramsky was responding to a speech by Peter Bazalgette, the television guru synonymous with Big Brother, who last week called for the privatisation of the two BBC radio stations and Channel 4, to fund new public service content from arts institutions, museums, galleries and individuals.

The BBC radio chief said she "disagreed profoundly" with what Bazalgette, the former boss of Endemol UK, had told the Royal Television Society.

"People pay the licence fee and expect the BBC to provide programming of relevance to them, whatever age they are or demographic group," Abramsky told the Radio Reborn conference in central London today.

"In tough economic times it is all the more important that the BBC should maintain its investment in radio.

"As the music industry will testify Radio 1 and Radio 2 support UK talent, new music and live performance. They underpin the nation's cultural life in the broadest sense.

"They also provide news and information for mass audiences and young audiences - think [BBC Radio 2's] Jeremy Vine and Newsbeat [on Radio 1].

"For all these reasons it is vital that Radio 1 and Radio 2 remain part of the BBC's public service portfolio."